novelraw Chapter 165 Demanding an Explanation from the Zhu Family
Chapter 165 Demanding an Explanation from the Zhu Family
Chapter 165 Demanding an Explanation from the Zhu Family
Gu Tang was fairly satisfied with this explanation.
Her father wasn't the kind of person who favored sons over daughters. A couple of years ago, she heard him talk to Zhang about the future of their daughter getting married.
According to her father's wishes, whichever of her two daughters got married, the family had to prepare chests, cabinets, furniture, bedding, clothes, etc., which would cost at least two taels of silver per person.
Don't look down on these two taels of silver. In rural areas, the dowry for a wedding is usually a hundred or so copper coins, sometimes more, but at most it's only one tael.
Most dowries consist of a bundle and a set of clothes. Better dowries might include a chest, and even better dowries might include a quilt.
A thick quilt costs over 100 coins, which is more expensive than the betrothal gifts.
Her father not only prepared two taels of silver as dowry for each of his daughters, but also kept all the betrothal gifts from their husbands' families for their daughters' dowries.
Logically, the betrothal gifts should be kept, but her father didn't intend to keep them and gave them all to his daughter.
When Zhang learned of her father's plan, her face fell. She said that with such a dowry, the family would probably not have a single copper coin left. Her words clearly showed her unwillingness.
But no matter how unwilling she was, Zhang had no choice. By then, her father and Zhang had become estranged, and he kept all the money he earned to himself instead of giving it to Zhang.
Since Zhang Shi had no control over the family's savings, she had no say in the matter of her daughter's dowry.
Now Gu Mei has ruined her own life, squandering her two taels of silver dowry.
Two taels of silver was nothing to Gu Tang, who had a "huge sum" of money, but in this rural farmhouse, it was definitely a grand gesture.
She didn't want to let Gu Mei benefit from this.
Whether it was Gu Mei's aunt who stole the cloth, Gu Mei herself who stole it, or the two of them who stole it together, the cloth is indeed gone!
Without the cloth, Gu Mei, as the suspected cloth thief, must be punished.
Her father took back the two taels of silver dowry, which gave Gu Tang a sense of relief. However, this did not stop her from continuing to sow discord between Gu Mei and Gu Tang.
"I had kept that cloth on purpose, thinking that I was still growing and that if I made clothes out of such fine cloth, I probably wouldn't be able to wear them in a year or two."
I'm planning to put it in the closet for two or three years, and then take it out to make clothes. I'll make it bigger so I can wear it for many years.
Unexpectedly, it had been stolen long ago, and I didn't even notice when it was stolen. It's truly a case of "it's hard to guard against a thief within the family."
Gu Tang sighed softly, her tone filled with reluctance, and the disappointment in her eyes was undisguised.
"Don't be sad. I know which cloth shop sells it. I'll buy it for you later... I'll buy two bolts. You can take one to make clothes, and keep the other one to make two more outfits when you're a little older."
Gu Lianshan tried to comfort her, but he was getting angrier and angrier at Gu Mei. He had always thought she was stupid, but he never expected that she would conspire with her aunt to steal his own sister's things!
“No need for that. Last time when I was buying things in Bei’an City, I bought several bolts of cloth, which are still sitting in the house untouched. If you buy two more, the cabinet might not have enough room.”
Gu Tang shook her head, telling her father to give up the idea of buying two more horses to replenish his supplies. Then, she changed the subject and started talking about Gu Mei's aunt.
“A bolt of cloth is four zhang long, enough to make four or five sets of clothes with some left over. Aunt Zhu only made one set of clothes for my eldest brother and sister, and she kept all the rest of the cloth. This matter cannot be left unresolved like this. There must be an explanation, and the elders on Zhu's side need to know about this.”
“You’re right, the Zhu family definitely needs an explanation.” Even if Gu Tang didn’t bring it up, Gu Lianshan wouldn’t overlook the Zhu family.
After calming himself down, he discussed with his third uncle, "Tomorrow morning I will take Mei to the Zhu family to make things clear. Regardless of whether the remaining cloth is returned, this matter needs to be addressed and cannot remain unclear."
“That makes sense. Stealing…isn’t something to be proud of. We need to make it clear.” Third Uncle frowned. Mei’er is no good, and she’s no good at anything either.
Aunt Zhu brazenly stole cloth from the Gu family. As a daughter of the Gu family, you saw it but did not stop her, nor did you tell your elders. You even accepted "hush money" from Aunt Zhu.
Now, whether you stole it or not, you can't escape now.
If there's a first time, there will definitely be a second time. If Aunt Zhu takes a fancy to the Gu family's things again and asks you to help steal them, will you do it?
If you don't do it, the news of you stealing the cloth last time will spread immediately, and you'll be the one who gets all the blame, since the new clothes you have in your room were made from that stolen cloth.
You can't deny it even if you want to!
After thinking about all this, the third uncle finally understood why Gu Lianshan was in such a hurry to marry off Gu Mei.
This stupid and vicious girl—he couldn't bring himself to kill her, but keeping her at home would only bring more trouble. So far, only the theft of cloth has been exposed; what about the others? He didn't believe she'd only done this one thing.
After much thought, the only solution was to marry her off.
As for whether she will bring trouble to her husband's family after marriage, they don't care.
It's still raining outside. If I want to go to the Zhu family's house tomorrow morning, it depends on whether the weather cooperates.
If the road is muddy and slippery the following night, it is absolutely impossible to go; we must stay for two or three days.
If the rain stops in the middle of the night, you can catch the bus the next day. Just take the good road, even if it's a longer route.
Before going to bed, Gu Lianshan stood under the eaves and glanced at the rain. It wasn't too heavy, and he hoped it would stop soon so as not to delay his trip to the Zhu family tomorrow.
The rainy winter night was exceptionally cold, and everyone in the courtyard quickly turned off their lights and went to sleep.
The lights in Gu Mei's room were also turned off, but she lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
The stolen firewood was returned, and the stove inside the house had been extinguished early on. At this time, she dared not go to the backyard to fetch firewood from the woodshed.
Siya had previously told her not to use the firewood in the backyard, and she was afraid that as soon as she brought the firewood into the house, Siya would seize the opportunity to beat her up again.
She wrapped herself tightly in the blankets, but the bed wasn't very warm. Her stomach was still growling, and she was so hungry that she felt dizzy and lightheaded because she wasn't allowed to eat dinner.
While enduring the cold and hunger, and with her mind in turmoil, Gu Mei felt that her father's attitude today was very strange.
Her father always favored Fourth Sister and also disliked her maternal grandfather's family very much.
Now that she knows that Siya's cloth has been stolen by her aunt, she'll definitely get a beating, given her usual temper!
But today she was very calm and didn't get angry at all, which was so unlike her father's temper. It was as if she had become a different person.
If it were only like this, Gu Mei would at most feel a little fortunate and wouldn't think too much about it. She would only think that since they had just adopted her, her father couldn't get angry and beat his daughter.
For some reason, Gu Mei's heart was pounding wildly, and she felt extremely anxious. She had a feeling that something was about to happen, and that her father might be plotting something bad...
Gu Mei became increasingly worried, unable to fall asleep at all. She tossed and turned in bed, suffering terribly.
She didn't know how long she stayed up until she could no longer hear the rain outside, then she felt sleepy and drifted off to sleep.
Not long after I fell asleep, the sound of roosters crowing came from the woodshed in the backyard; it was almost dawn.
As dawn broke, the rooster in the woodshed crowed even more merrily.
Uncle San, who hadn't heard a rooster crow in his own home for many years, was the first to wake up.
The room was still pitch black, with only the stove not far away providing a little light.
As the old man listened to the rooster crowing, the long-lost warmth of home life returned to his quiet house, prompting sighs of relief.
Not long after, the sound of a door opening came from outside. Judging from the sound, it was coming from the east wing, so Lianshan must have gotten up.
Third Uncle still remembered that Gu Lianshan was taking Gu Mei to the Zhu family today, and he didn't know if the road outside was passable by carriage. Thinking of this, he got up and sat up, groped for the small table by the bed, found the oil lamp, hurriedly put on a coat, got out of bed, and lit the oil lamp with the embers in the stove.
With the oil lamp providing light, the room finally had some illumination, and Uncle San began to dress and put on his shoes, eager to go out and take a look.
When she put on the padded jacket, her gaze fell on the newly bought fur coat on the bed.
This was bought by his granddaughter as a special gift to him; he is now a man with both sons and grandsons.
Thinking of all this, Uncle San couldn't contain his joy and simply took off his padded jacket and put on the fur coat.
After getting dressed, the old man left the house feeling refreshed.
As they approached the corridor, they saw Gu Lianshan opening the courtyard gate.
"Where are you going so early in the morning, before it's even fully light?" Uncle San couldn't help but ask.
Hearing his third uncle's voice, Gu Lianshan stopped what he was doing and turned around to look: "Father? Why are you up so early?"
Third Uncle walked over from the east wing corridor. "I always get up at this time. But you, what are you doing here?"
"I'll go outside and check the road to see if a car can pass." Gu Lianshan continued to remove the latch and opened one side of the courtyard gate.
The main road of the village is right outside the courtyard gate. Gu Lianshan walked up and down, and his feet quickly got covered in mud, but not much. The ground wasn't too soft either, so a car should be able to pass through.
Third Uncle looked somewhat uneasy. "How about we wait two more days? I think this road is a bit risky."
"It's alright, I'll just take the main road. Those roads have been compacted over decades, so this little bit of rain won't bother me."
Gu Lianshan was still angry. Seeing that the road was barely passable, he didn't want to wait any longer. He was afraid that if he waited two more days, he would be so angry that he would die.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade him, the third uncle stopped trying. "In that case, you go to the backyard to hitch up the cart. I'll go to the kitchen to cook some porridge and a few eggs. You and Mei'er can eat first."
"How can I let you cook? You go back inside and warm yourself by the fire. I'll cook the rice. It's not too late to hitch up the cart after the rice is cooked. The Zhu family isn't far away anyway."
After closing the door, Gu Lianshan rolled up his sleeves and headed towards the kitchen.
Third Uncle didn't go back to the main room either; instead, he went to the kitchen and sat in front of the stove to help tend the fire.
Thinking back to yesterday when Gu Lai'an put his chopsticks into his second daughter's plate, and she only ate half of her dinner before stopping, Gu Lianshan decided to make some egg pancakes for her today to make up for the grievance she suffered.
By the time the rice was cooked, it was already broad daylight outside.
Gu Lianshan first went to the backyard to hitch up the oxcart, then led it to the front yard and stopped it. After that, he went to wake Gu Mei up.
He only called out to Gu Mei, without saying anything else, just telling her to get up quickly, saying he had something important to take her to do.
Having endured the cold all night and managed to sleep for only two hours, Gu Mei didn't want to get up. She hadn't had enough sleep and wanted to sleep a little longer.
Unfortunately, Gu Lianshan didn't tolerate her. He kept banging on the door, his tone shifting from indifference to impatience. Anyone could tell he was getting angry from calling for help.
Gu Mei, who was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, suddenly perked up and quickly responded, no longer daring to stay in bed.
Gu Lianshan's loud voice, though only calling for Gu Mei, still woke up Gu Tang and the others.
Gu Tang loves to stay in bed in the morning. After being woken up, she turns over, covers her head with the blanket, and quickly falls asleep again.
Gu Ping'an stopped sleeping, yawned twice, and got up to get dressed.
When he finished dressing and came out of the house, he saw Gu Mei in the east wing across the street, just coming out of her house as well.
Upon seeing Gu Ping'an, Gu Mei gave him a cold look, glared at him with a dark expression, and then turned and headed towards the kitchen.
Gu Ping'an pouted, not wanting to pay attention to her, but then he saw his father standing at the kitchen door, holding a bowl in his hand, eating without looking up.
I patted my stomach, feeling a little hungry, and followed them.
As they walked around the long corridor from the main room to the kitchen, they bumped into Gu Lai'an, who was coming out of the house.
Gu Lai'an was even more reluctant to get out of bed than Gu Tang, but after the fabric theft incident yesterday, he dared not stay in bed any longer.
Although his father didn't wake him up, he still got up obediently.
When Gu Lai'an ran into Gu Ping'an face to face, he didn't dare to glare at him openly like Gu Mei did, but he deliberately acted as if Gu Ping'an didn't exist and went to the kitchen on his own without even glancing at him.
Gu Ping'an wasn't angry; coincidentally, he also acted as if Gu Lai'an didn't exist.
Gu Lianshan, who was standing at the door, seemed not to be looking this way, but in fact he saw everything, and his determination to send his eldest son away became even stronger.
Inside the kitchen, the food on the small table was plentiful, including egg pancakes, porridge, and pickled vegetables stir-fried with pork cracklings.
Gu Ping'an didn't go to get the food. Instead, he greeted his third uncle first, then poured hot water and took it to the outside corridor to wash up.
Gu Mei and Gu Lai'an, however, were quite unhygienic. They didn't even wash their hands, let alone wash themselves, and reached out to grab the egg pancakes.
The third uncle paused, wanting to gently persuade them to go wash up first.
Before he could even speak, Gu Lianshan, who was standing by the door, immediately yelled, "Put your hands down! Are you some kind of reincarnated starving ghost?! Go wash up!"
The siblings' outstretched hands trembled, and they quickly withdrew them. Covered in dust, they found a basin, poured in some hot water, and went out to wash themselves haphazardly.
When they returned to the kitchen, they found that the egg pancakes on the small table were gone, leaving only fried pork cracklings, pickled vegetables, and porridge.
The siblings immediately felt dissatisfied, which was reflected on their faces as they picked up their bowls and ate with dark expressions.
After they finished eating half a bowl of porridge, Gu Ping'an, who had been washing up outside, returned fully dressed.
After washing her face and combing her hair, she cleaned her teeth with the salt Gu Tang had secretly given her, and felt very refreshed.
When he returned and saw that the egg pancake on the small table was gone, he didn't react. He picked up the bowl, put two pieces of pickled vegetables into it, and sat down to eat.
The table wasn't very big, and whether Gu Mei and her brother did it intentionally or not, they each occupied one side, taking up the entire spot.
Gu Ping'an didn't argue with them. He figured it didn't matter where he sat, he could eat anyway. Did they think that by occupying the small table and not letting him sit there, they could put him in a superior position?
No, that would only make his father more annoyed with them.
Gu Lianshan watched this scene coldly without saying a word, finished the porridge in his bowl, and went to the yard to tidy up the oxcart.
Third Uncle glanced at his departing figure and sighed deeply, "Children are all debts! Some come to repay debts, and some come to collect debts."